Time, Tradition, and the Family Icon
The University of Michigan has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Both of my parents, nearly all of my aunts and uncles, and one set of my grandparents pursued higher education in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Multiple generations of pride for the University motivated my family to do many things, such as go to yearly football games, make U of M a top choice school for my sister and I, and attend Camp Michigania, a summer camp in northern Michigan exclusively for University of Michigan alumni and their families. My “immediate” family, consisting of my parents, my older sister and myself, went to Michigania for 18 summers, 15 of them consecutive.
Over the years our group grew far beyond the four of us, with summers at Camp Michigania acting as a reunion for my family, my mother’s brother and sister with their spouses and children, and several family friends from around the country. Our time spent at Michigania became the most looked-forward-to week of the year, and the camp has served as the site of many iconic moments for my family and friends. Spending a week at Michigania for so many summers allowed us to see growth and change, both in the campgrounds and in ourselves. The place where this growth is most strongly displayed is in the “rock photos” we take every year at the camp. Yearly photographs of my sister and I sitting on “the rock” at Camp Michigania are iconic among my family and our friends. In this paper I will describe three iterations of the iconic photograph, each from a different year; discuss how repetition has transformed the images from family photos into family icons; and examine the significance of place in my family’s iconic images.
Many things have changed about Camp Michigania throughout the years – upgrades to cabins and other camp facilities immediately come to mind – but one thing has always remained constant: the rock. On the drive into the camp there is a large rock on the right-hand side of the road. It is painted blue with a yellow Block M – a recognizable symbol of the University of Michigan. The rock is relatively far from the actual camp. In terms of distance the rock sits about a mile from the center of camp, but as it is out of the way from most camp activities it goes largely unnoticed during the week we spend sailing, horseback riding, and catching up with friends. However on the last day, the rock becomes the main event. After sweeping out our cabin and stuffing our car full of bedding, laundry, and arts and crafts projects, we stop at the rock for pictures.
The tradition started simply. My mother would snap a couple of pictures of my sister and I sitting on the rock. As our group increased in number, however, our photos became ritualized. Now at the end of each week of camp we line up with about six cars on the side of the road. We take pictures with every combination possible: just the kids, just the adults, each individual family, just the kids of each individual family, friends only, family only, and the list goes on. We stay until we have all our photographs taken, or until we see another family waiting on the side of the road, trying to make their own memories in our spot.
The first image I will look at was taken in 1994, our first summer at Michigania (Image 1). The second image is from 2001 (Image 2). The third and final image is from 2013, my family’s most recent year at camp (Image 3). The photographs have a lot in common. All three were taken at the same time of year: late June, the end of Michigania’s "Second Week” session. They were all taken
Image 1. Marley Kalt (left) and Amanda Kalt (right) on the rock at Camp Michigania, 1994.
Image 2. Marley Kalt (left) and Amanda Kalt (right) on the rock at Camp Michigania, 2001.
Image 3. Marley Kalt (left) and Amanda Kalt (right) on the rock at Camp Michigania, 2013.
in the same location: the rock at Camp Michigania in Boyne City, Michigan. The photographer is also the same: my mother, Shari Kalt. The content of the photographs is very similar in all three images. There is green grass and a forest of leafy green trees in the background. The background is always a relatively uniform, natural scene. It does not draw much attention when viewing each image. The foreground is more interesting. There is the rock, painted a bright shade of blue with a large yellow block M. The rock contrasts with the green background, yet it is not meant to be the focal point of each image. The main focus is my sister and I, always sitting on top of the rock, and always in the center of the frame.
Although there are many similarities between each image, there are important differences among them, as well. It is not visible in the images, but the technology used to take the photographs is different for each one. The first image from 1994 was taken with a point-and-shoot film camera. There were a limited number of pictures on each roll of film and photographs could not be viewed until they were developed. This may explain why my sister and I are not perfectly in the center of the image and why the bottom of the rock is cut off; the technology did not allow my mother to review the photo and take another in a better position. The second image was taken with a digital point-and-shoot camera, and the third was taken with an iPhone 5. Both of these technologies have greater storage capacities than a single roll of film and easily allow the photographer to review captured images. Furthermore, the camera on the iPhone 5 can show gridlines to the photographer to make it easy to position subjects wherever the photographer chooses. More differences can be found by looking at the rock itself. It is repainted each year; sometimes the shape of the block M or the shade of blue used is different from the year before. The rock has also been slightly repositioned throughout the years. Each of the photographs looks straight on at the rock, but the angle of the background is not always the same. This indicates that the rock has been moved over time.
Finally, the most obvious difference between the images is that my sister and I have clearly aged from one to the next. Beyond our physical appearances changing, as my sister and I grew older we increasingly took it upon ourselves to take a good rock photo. When we were toddlers it was largely out of our hands. My parents would put us on the rock and leave us there until they got the perfect smiling photograph they wanted. As we got older the pictures got sloppier. I personally would focus more on trying not to fall off the rock than on what I was wearing or if my legs were in the same position as my sister’s. This is evident in Image 2, from 2001. Things changed again as my sister and I became adults. In the most recent image, it is apparent that we planned in advance and tried to get it right. We coordinated our outfits (both of us are wearing University of Michigan t-shirts) and made sure to sit in the same position. We also took care to make sure we were on the same side of the rock we have each sat on for 16 of the 18 total photos. In most cases, when looking at one of our rock photos, I am on the left and she is on the right. Visually, the images seem very straightforward. The subjects are relatives, who are positioned in the center of the image and meant to be the main focal point. Each photo was taken using common household technologies, rather than by a professional photographer. By itself, each individual image has all the makings of a traditional family vacation photo. But viewed together, they can mean so much more.
The fact that my family has an entire collection of rock photos is crucial to transforming each one into an iconic visual. I have gone on dozens of vacations with my family, and there are hundreds of photographs of my sister and I saved on our desktop computer. Yet, none of these are representative of my family or known among our friends. It is the Michigania rock photos – a collection that has its own folder on our computer and fills picture frames that occupy an entire wall of our basement – that stand out greater than the rest. It is the repetition of the same image over and over, throughout many years, which makes the rock photos iconic. Even though my family has a long history of attending the University of Michigan, and University symbols such as the block M and maize-and-blue colors are significant in each of our minds, I do not believe that a single rock photo would be iconic if it were not part of a whole. Part of this may be because the photographs act as a time lapse of my sister and I growing up. “It’s a living experience,” said my mother, Shari. “I like looking at all the photos together to see the passage of time.” We have so many similar photos it is almost impossible to look at one without thinking about the others, without wanting to see the subtle changes from one year to the next. This tendency to view the photos together, rather than as individuals, transforms each one from a simple vacation photo into different phases of the growth of my family. The rock photos are not just about going back to camp every year and taking a photo to remember it. They are about time. The repetition of Michigania rock photos represents the passage of time and serves as a visual marker of how that time has changed us.
The images also convey the feeling of a large amount of time spent doing the same thing. Seeing the 18 photos together can be daunting. They show a high level of commitment and dedication to preserving our family memories and traditions. When I was growing up we had many family traditions, especially surrounding the various holidays we celebrate throughout the year. But, as my sister and I became teenagers, my extended family grew, and a few immediate family members moved out of Michigan, our traditions began to break down. Now, nearly the only ritual that remains is our annual rock photo. Even my own family members think it is incredible that we have maintained our collection. My father, Mark Kalt, said, “it’s hard to believe we went there for 18 years. I can’t think of anything else we’ve done for that long.”
However, there is one aspect I cannot ignore when thinking of my family’s Michigania tradition: it is not just a tradition for my family. Hundreds of Michigania campers and staff members take photos on the same rock year after year. This makes me wonder if the rock being a public place can diminish our tradition? Can our rock photos still be iconic if they are not exclusive to my family? After considering these questions, and what it means for something to be iconic, I would argue that our rock photos actually become more iconic by being set in a widely known location. An icon can be defined as “a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol of something.” In visual culture, an iconic image is often one that serves as a summary of an entire event. Therefore, the content of the photograph must be recognizable to the viewer in order for the viewer to understand its significance. This recognition can be in many forms, such as the subject of the image, a universal feeling the image evokes, or the location where the image was taken. The rock at Michigania is instantly recognizable to anyone who has been to the camp. Furthermore, the colors and block M symbol are well known to any alumni or fan of the University of Michigan. By setting our annual photos in such a popular place, my family has increased the chances that others will identify and understand the images. This great potential for recognition strengthens the iconography of the photographs.
In conclusion, my family has not one, but 18 iconic images, all taken in the same location in different years. The images track the growth of my sister and I from early childhood, through our teenage years, and finally into adulthood. It is the repetition of the same image, rather than the individual photographs, which makes these pictures iconic. It is also the place, at a rock recognizable to all Michigania campers with symbols significant to anybody aware of U of M, that gives our ordinary family photos a higher status and meaning. Even with all of our preparation and coordination to get the best possible rock photos, especially in recent years, they can all be boiled down to a few simple feelings: summer camp, and pride for the University of Michigan. As far as family icons go, I cannot think of anything that represents the Kalts more.